Extec has been able to supply the iron ore market with a world-leading range of mobile crushing and screening equipment through a truly outstanding existing sales and distribution network. The Extec distribution network possesses an unrivalled local knowledge of the specific market conditions for mined iron ore within India. This market knowledge is based on many years' experience of application engineering and an impressive after sales support infrastructure, with particular emphasis on technical support, spare parts and machinery service.

The mixture of market knowledge, state-of-the-art equipment and customer driven service, has resulted in companies throughout India finding new ways to ensure that their iron ore processing is more productive and hence more profitable.

Extec engineers have worked in close association with iron ore producers on their specific requirements. The flexibility and productivity inherent in the Extec product range allows for the devising of bespoke configurations that have proved to be the most suitable for the specific location and application. Experience has proved that is vital to design systems with the flexibility to quickly adapt to the changing feed material character and final product demand.

The Extec plants have been tailored to the specific market conditions and geared towards maximizing productivity and minimizing machine down time. These operations have now become the backbone of iron ore processing in India. New additions to the set ups have been incorporated continuously to allow for increased capacity, new product specifications and new applications.

A key feature of the inherent flexibility of Extec operations has been the nature of the machinery itself. All Extec equipment is fully hydraulic, crawler mounted, self propelled and fully self contained. Thus the Extec machinery may be used in complementary flexible combinations or as stand alone units, depending on the specific requirement.

Extec in India has been at the forefront of both introducing and customising, mobile screening and crushing technology to suit the specific mineral and product demands found within the Indian iron ore mining industry. Amongst the many 'firsts' are:

The use of tracked impact crushers in both a primary and secondary crushing application

Configuration of screening and crushing systems in order to produce virtually 100% fines from ROM through a very high reduction ratio in close circuit.

Single stage on track close circuit systems for virtual 100% conversion to fines and calibrated ore from ROM.

Two and three stage on track close circuit mobile plants with jaw-cone-impactor-screen; system possesses flexibility to adapt to changes in product profile via a wide range of possible set-up configurations.

Extec's renowned Double-Screen systems for efficient screening of a diverse range of material characteristics. The unique configuration and design of the Double-Screen box allows a possible five product fractions to be produced through its unique segmented high frequency screen box.

Due to the combination of the Extec product line and the operating structure of the distribution network, Extec has grown during a relatively short period of time to be the major supplier of mobile crushing and screening systems for iron ore in India. As of December 2006, Extec has placed over 125 mobile screens and crushers operating within the iron ore industry. Extec machines are to be found at all the major iron ore mining locations in India; they may be found in the Hospet-Sandur-Belary belt in southern India, Goa in western coastal India and the Barbil belt in eastern India.

The Extec installations working in India on iron ore cover a wide array of materials within the generic "iron ore". Low specification grades, as well as high grade ores of various material and character together with differing product specifications are all processed. Applications where Extec machinery is found include: hard lumpy iron ore; soft/medium hard ore; friable ore; blue dust; dump screening/crushing; and ore with lateritic content.

The number of new customers converting their existing installations to Extec screening and crushing systems, together with high percentage of the repeat orders from existing customers, underlines the competitive advantages of the Extec equipment in the Indian iron ore industry. The Extec success story has been customer driven, customer led, but developed through the right products and served by the right people.